Bravo's Gay Gang To Handle Makeovers For Clueless Straight Guys

July 15, 2003|By Rod Stafford Hagwood Staff Writer

Like five fabulous fairy godmothers, the makeover team from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy descends on heteros whose hunkiness is all closeted. Those closet doors are thrown open with a swish loud enough to be heard around the world -- which means it is done with the fervor, fierceness and fashion sense of a whole round table of Dorothy Parkers.

Rest assured the bons mots and acid-tongued asides -- like Miss Parker's -- will be repeated at cocktail parties from coast to coast. That's just how funny the cast is in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, premiering tonight on Bravo. The series paints the fashionable reality/makeover genre with rainbow colors, as five uber-out gay guys swoop down onto straight guys, freeing them from lifeless lifestyles.

There's Ted Allen, a food and wine connoisseur with a dictatorial air. Kyan Douglas, a grooming guru, enjoys looking at himself as much as you will. Thom Filicia handles interior design with the ingratiating charm peculiar to that industry, while Carson Kressley as the fashion savant is Waylon Flowers & Madame ... on crystal meth. The fifth member of the fab five is Jai Rodriguez, who teaches -- with somewhat startling earnestness for someone who looks like he just left a rave -- how to schmooze and work a room.

Compared to this team, the Style channel's Fashion Emergency gang might as well be animatronics at Disney World. Looking like they've just dashed back into town after a weekend in Provincetown (Helmut Lang T-shirt, CK khakis, Gucci huaraches), the stylish group learns of their new assignment while careening around New York in a black SUV. They descend on hapless, but remarkably comfortable, heterosexual men like a gay gang hellbent on conceptualizing instead of conversion.

"We're not trying to change the guy," said David Collins, the show's executive co-producer. "We're not saying that all gay guys have great style and taste and all straight guys don't. But straight guys do have the dirt factor; their apartments are always pretty filthy. But the thing that most guys have a problem with is shaving. You have no idea how bad shaving can be. They're like Speed Racer, ripping through it as fast as possible and going in the wrong direction. They just can't seem to shave fast enough. That, and you'd be amazed how many guys can't tie a necktie. This is something fathers used to do. But a lot of guys don't have that anymore."

So where it used to be that father knew best, now it's "that gay guy" keeping the fatherly flame burning. That's a lot of male-bonding/socio-sexual weight being lifted by such delicate wrists.

"It's crazy in the beginning," Collins said. "But by the end there is a definite camaraderie. You see a mutual respect. You see real walls getting broken down. And it's done through entertainment. We always say that we're not a makeover show, but a make-better show. This is just guys helping guys."

Collins said he got the idea when he and a friend went to an art show in a Boston loft and were amused by a woman berating her husband for not looking as put-together as three gay men posing by a window. The well-dressed trio came to the defense of the hapless hubby by trying to point out what was right with him. Eureka -- the next day Collins pitched the idea and the guys in the office (especially the straight ones) got excited about the prospect.

Bravo bought the series in January; there are now 11 episodes in the can with nine more to go for the first season. And since Bravo was acquired by NBC, commercials for tonight's debut have been in heavy rotation, which is very helpful when your new show is on a cable channel with a fraction of the audience of a network.

And something bigger is going on, according to Collins. The popularity of gay-themed Will & Grace; gay characters regularly appearing on reality shows such as The Amazing Race and The Real World; the recent privacy ruling from the Supreme Court; the aggressive campaign to legalize gay marriages -- it all leaves Collins just short of declaring a pop-culture pivotal moment.

"I met Harvey Fierstein the other night after a performance of Hairspray," Collins said. "He said that there is something very interesting happening out there, and its heart seems to be where the gay world meets mass media. He himself said that there is something bubbling out there. There are people realizing that ... it doesn't make you gay because you color your hair or get a manicure.

"We're not going to change the world overnight, but if we can show that gay guys are not out there to rape and pillage straight guys ... Some people think that every gay guy will go for a straight guy every time. That is just not true. We're just guys."